Briefs of News in Your Hawaii
By Star-Bulletin Staff
By Star-Bulletin Staff
Bowing to political realities this week, the western senators instead agreed to set up a commission to study the appeals court system and recommend ways to make it more efficient.
Hawaii's congressional delegation and legal community had opposed the split, arguing it could lead to inconsistent laws, especially maritime law governing shipping between Hawaii and the West Coast, and would be costly.
But GOP senators from western states had contended that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the largest of the federal appellate courts, was bulky and cumbersome - and dominated by liberal California judges out of step with such states as Montana and Idaho.
The Navy says Dew, who was accused of adultery by C. Dudley Pratt, has been named director of Public Works Support for the Naval Facilities Engineering Command in Washington, D.C.
He will be replaced on April 29 by Capt. James Delker, who is now commanding officer of the Construction Battalion Command at Port Hueneme, Calif.
Dew, 47, was temporarily relieved as commander Dec. 9 while the Navy investigated the charges. He was reinstated Dec. 30 when the Navy said it could not substantiate them.
Kelly Hill founded Sisters Offering Support, a nonprofit resource center offering help for Waikiki and Chinatown prostitutes.
Hill, once a prostitute herself, says it was hard to get out of the sex-trade business. The money was always attractive.
But she says her sister's support helped her overcome drug addictions and put prostitution behind her.
The resource center offers a 24-hour crisis line and helps women to find jobs. Next month the center will offer support-group meetings and self-development workshops.
Hill says there are more than 800 prostitutes in Honolulu.
Proposals include protecting nesting and feeding areas, and reducing incidental harvesting of turtles during fishing.
Research projects are planned to determine the animals' migratory route and to identify threats to its habitat.
Gene Nitta of the National Marine Fisheries Service calls the proposal a monumental undertaking. He says there may be more money for turtle protection because countries will be encouraged to work together.
For expanded versions of these, as well as other stories, see today's Honolulu Star-Bulletin newspaper.
Police said the woman was crossing Palolo Avenue just south of Lamaloa Place about 7:30 p.m. when a station wagon driven by a 62-year-old Palolo Valley man hit her, throwing her on top of the vehicle's roof.
She suffered internal and head injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police have opened a negligent homicide investigation in the case.
The death was the 14th on Oahu roads, compared with 15 at the same time last year.
The 7:20 p.m. blaze Thursday caused damage estimated at $65,000 to one 40-foot and one 80-foot trailer, police said.
A man who was part of a group of people recently evicted from living under a nearby bridge is a possible suspect, police said. The man had indicated he would return and damage the property, police said.
A witness reported seeing someone matching a description of the evicted man fleeing the scene of the fire.
A 70-year-old man was crossing the street fronting 402 Uluniu St. around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday when he began experiencing pain and dizziness, police said.
A woman who lives nearby saw him stumbling in the roadway and assisted him until police and an ambulance arrived.
The woman, 73, told officers she had heard a strange noise - the same noise she heard the day before when she was grazed in the cheek by an unknown object - before she looked out her window and saw the injured man.
He was treated at Castle Hospital for a pellet embedded behind his right jaw below the earlobe, police said.
The woman sustained a puncture wound to her cheek but did not seek treatment.